Next Saturday February 9th I will be teaching a workshop in San Francisco. It will be my first workshop in SF in 4 years. Its been a while! If you are interested it will be going down from 2:30- 4pm as City Dance Studio.

This is my new workshop that I have been teaching all around the globe. It will be the first time teaching it in the bay! So come on through!!
This class is based on practice exercises that will help students expand on their creativity and fundamentals. It is an advanced class for bboys/bgirls so come ready to get down and get pushed to a new limit. From footwork to freezes to power. This will not be a 5,6,7,8 class.

This last weekend while visiting Canada for Big Trouble Little Vancouver. I had the privilege to link up with a good friend/crew mate of mine, Wicket!
I wanted to ask him a few questions from coming up in the 90’s to going pro at an early age and his experiences and advice.
Wicket to me was an inspiration and influenced when I got in Renegades. The first time I saw him was in Radiotron 96 and from there on he just got iller and iller. I had the privilege of battling him in the late 90’s. To me he represented that true bboy image in a time when not everyone was on that mind set. One of the first from his generation to have a fresh bboy style mixed with really good power combos. A rare thing even today.

Here is a video from a special training we(Red Bull BCone All Stars) attended in late Novemeber at the Red Bull HQ in Santa Monica. As many bboys know, this dance is physically demanding. With age comes more complications to be able to maintain your skill. I have always believed that one can dance as long as he chooses. The way to do so is to stay on top of your training in BBoyn and outside of bboyn. This dance is not a sport and we all know that, this is an artistic dance thats a part of a culture. I do believe that we must train like athletes to keep ourselves in shape. In sports when you see some of the greatest in their sport, they were all able to still be on top late in their careers. They kept up with their sport, and understood that they’re way of practice and training was going to be the difference.

We attended the camp for four days and got to learn new things that can help maximize our abilities that we have developed. Some people might look at this like something wack or good. One thing that I will have to say is this, the camp for me is eye opening to learning how to make changes in some of my training habits. Four daye will not make us stronger or improve us on the spot. Each day we learn about new stuff from nutrition to workouts. It was an amazing opportunity for all of us, but nothing will make us better unless we ourselves commit to the things we learned and are willing to make those changes.

Here is a quote from the greatest Mohammed Ali
“Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them- a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill, and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.”

Battle Tip,
Heres a new video I posted where I cover a subject that I go over in my workshops about understanding bboy battles. The purpose of this video is to give my input on the way I understand battles. From my experience, watching and judging battles it is clear that not many battles are no longer real battles but rather performances. Battling someone is like having a conversation with dance, you keep building off of the topics you are having. Some battles dont make sense sometimes because none of the same vocabulary is being shown by one another. So I really hope you enjoy this video and if you have any questions drop a comment.

NOTE: Not everyone battles this way just putting that out there. There is a good amount of bboys that understand and do what I am talking about so I am not attacking no one.

This last October I got to visit Guatemala for a special project revolving around dance and Mayan Culture. It became an experience that can never be forgotten. Lil G and myself went from Guatemala city to Lago Atitlan to teach bboyn. Along the way we got to do a Mayan ritual and got to meet their spiritual leader. He was fulfilled with knowledge and experience. The whole journey was documented by a non profit channel called Comal TV.
The workshops were great, just interacting with the bboys out there was eye opening. It reminded me the power Hip Hop has on youth and the under privilege. Living somewhere where Hip Hop is widely accepted and lived by so many. I feel that sometimes it is taken for granted with all the whining. These kids live this to better themselves and have a way out from a tough environment. Really humbling experience and a wake up to not ever forget the impact this art form and culture has had on our lives!

Back from Brazil after a great week of experiences. This year going into the BC one as the defending champion was a whole new challenge. It is different when no one expects much from you compared to when all eyes are on you. Knowing that this was going to be a challenge, I chose to rise to the occasion. Unfortunately the results werent what I was striving for. As everything started happening I realized my preparation was not enough, more time was necessary. The more comfortable and natural you feel going into a battle like this the better you will perform when the pressure is on.

For everyone asking on how I feel about my battles, here is my answer.

In my first battle i felt I stuck to my game plan and came out on top. The heat in the buidling was nothing like ive ever felt before in battle. I have battled in some of the hottest places but this was the new record. Not only did I have a new battle at hand, the over opiniated crowd was there to let you know that you should of lost to whatever they liked.(funny) Obviously that has no impact in my personal performance but it can affect your feel for the battle.
Walking to the back stage to cool down and prepare for the 2nd round was my next step. Going into the battle with Differ I knew I had an experienced battler in front of me. All I had in mind was to come out and attack hime with some of my own moves. He responded well and executed. As the battle was happening I could not pin point what I wanted to use against him. A personal error on my behalf, usually things click faster. After it was all said and done the judges raised their cards. To my eyes a 4-1 vote in his favor was the result. Do I agree? Sure, I can see why the battle was given to him. Its not about sitting here an complaining who voted for who. If anything I feel that I beat myself by not being as prepared as I wanted to be. Under the circumstances that happened I found ways to work around them. In the end it proved to not have been enough. I will say that after loosing at this years BC One I feel the fire and hunger to come back harder. Always learn from my loses just like one learns from our mistakes.

Getting back on your feet after failing at something is what defines you as a champion. Never giving up!

This last summer right before Outbreak, Polskee Flavor and The BBoyspot Europe got together. They put on a week long camp with some of the illest teachers in the scene. Ken Swift, Ivan, Freeze, and Kazuhiro! The video looks great. It is a great opportunity for bboys and bgirls. It is a step forward in our scene a bbooy camp put together by… BBoys!

Good little interview with Kenny on StrifeTV. It was a good topic and good to hear Kenny’s views on some of the stuff that was covered.
I like what he mentioned about slow music. In my workshop I talk about defining your steps when you dance. Developing some stuff to slower music will make it look more natural when your having to move so fast.